The Listeners, by Maggie Stiefvater.

 

            December 7^th, 1941:  the American Naval Base at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbour has been bombed by the Japanese and, whether American citizens like it or not, they are now fighting in the Second World War.  What to do with the Axis Diplomats and their families and staff members who have enjoyed very comfortable residency as their country’s representatives up until now:  Germany, Italy and the Japanese legation are not allowed to ‘go home’, however much citizens would want them to, for American diplomats in the Axis countries have been similarly detained but in the interests of strict neutrality, Swiss diplomats make certain that each country’s representatives are treated fairly, right down to the books they are permitted to read weekly (one each) – and how many newspapers they can see weekly (one each). 

            The State Department is in charge of all the day-to-day logistics and has recruited several FBI Special Agents to ‘assist’, a euphemism for spying and listening-in wherever possible to various conversations in various languages;  to say that their destination – a luxurious West Virginia mountain hotel – will be onerous and boring is utter nonsense, especially when the G-men encounter the attractive and always obliging staff:  yes, this is definitely an assignment with a difference, but!

            War has intruded on the Avallon, the beautiful Appalachian hotel selected to house all the fine enemy diplomats, and Manager June Hudson must be host to all three hundred of them, a task that doesn’t faze her for her training by the Gilfoyle family who own the hotel has been extensive and thorough;  she expects the minimum of trouble from her illustrious guests and in the main they fulfil her expectations – until the 10 year-old daughter of one of the German diplomats has a screaming fit one day and is quickly sedated by one of his friends.  It is later revealed that the little girl will be euthanized when she returns to Germany, as is usual with anyone with mental problems. Or anyone with a disability.  Something must be done, and soon, for the detainees are expecting to be sent back to their various countries by the State Department, just as soon as their own representatives are sent home.

            Yes, something must be done, but what?  And when?

Ms Stiefvater has a beautiful writing style, revealing gradual facts about her characters rather than too much information too quickly;  her love for the area of which she writes is palpable and makes one wish that we could all revel in such unspoiled beauty.  She also doesn’t hold back on the poverty and sadness that ruled mountain people’s lives at that time and her many and varied characters are all a pleasure to meet – even the bad guys!  And there are many of them, many who steadfastly look away, too – the ‘Nothing-to-do-with Me ‘ club.  It’s up to June to change their minds.  FIVE STARS.  

 

 

The Summer Guests, by Tess Geritsen.

 

            Summer guests:  a euphemism for the thousands of summer visitors that pour into the state of Maine every year when the weather warms up, and acting-police-chief Jo Thibodeau expects the usual minor dust-ups with the vacation crowds that descend on the little town of Purity – traffic offences, offensive behaviour, drunkenness;  the usual, except on a larger scale.  Well, she’s ready for the ‘guests’ in Ms Gerritsen’s second book of the Martini Club series, but she’s still not ready to welcome into her confidence the members of the Martini Club, a group of retired CIA intelligence officers – with nothing better to do than meddle with perfectly legitimate investigations and seemingly always arriving at conclusions ( and destinations!) before she does.  It does absolutely nothing for her confidence to be upstaged – especially when a young girl, a summer guest goes missing, and all evidence points to an elderly man who gave her a lift back to her house by Maiden Pond.  Luther Yount doesn’t seem to have a water-tight alibi either, seemingly evasive about his destination.  Case solved, except that the young girl is still missing.

            Unfortunately for Jo, Luther is the admired and trusted neighbour of Maggie Bird, chicken farmer and former crack CIA agent:  if Jo will only bend the rules a little and allow her to see Luther in his holding cell, she’s pretty sure she’ll find out what really happened.  Which she does, and it’s not long before events require a search of Maiden Pond, revealing a woman’s skeleton which has been there for a considerable time.

            Suddenly, in the space of a week, Jo’s Summer Guest schedule has been blitzed:  she is forced to rely on the doubtful services of a State Detective with whom she does not get along, (he doesn’t believe that women can function in positions of responsibility) and whether she likes it or not, she realises that the Martini Club, for all their pretence at suggesting lofty titles for their ‘Book Club’ – which seems to be an excuse to consume copious amounts of alcohol – they also have a far-reaching recall of their former talents.     

            Ms Gerritsen keeps the action moving along at a satisfyingly furious pace with plenty of plot twists and turns, and her minor characters are, as always, beautifully drawn – and she knows her environment so well, as she and her husband had medical practices in Maine before she became a full-time writer:  everything has the ring of authenticity here, and The Summer Guest’s Unputdownability score is 100%.  FIVE STARS.   

 

The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan.

         

          Orianna Negi is the notorious dweller of Cell A, convicted at 17 of killing her wealthy father – because she was found unconscious by his body, next to  a shotgun that had blown his head nearly off.  Her fingerprints were all over the weapon and gunshot residue was on her clothes.  An open-and-shut case – but was it?  The advent of the internet, chat shows, podcasts et al has made her a celebrity, because she doesn’t remember the actual crime;  she has perfect recall up until the killing itself, but not a single memory exists of The Deed:  now she is 35 and eligible for parole after a lot of counselling to see if she is ready to deal with the outside world – and she is, for Orianna is convinced she didn’t kill her father (even though he deserved it!) and wants to return to Eden Falls, the small town where she grew up to prove her innocence once and for all.

            Unsurprisingly, she encounters a lot of hostility:  the good townspeople of Eden Falls don’t want a convicted murderer in their midst, particularly one of her pedigree – her mother was housekeeper to the Wyclerc family, the local mine owners and major employers of the area;  she had a reputation as the local girl to go to for a good time – which one of the Wyclerc sons availed himself of every now and then, until the inevitable happened, followed by Orianna’s birth and lonely upbringing in the Big House.  She had no knowledge of her father’s identity until the day he died – but everyone else in the family knows, including her grandfather Amos, who didn’t acknowledge the family relationship until she returned to Eden Falls to such hatred that he insists that for her own safety she stay in the Big House – no longer run by Orianna’s mother who has since died in mysterious circumstances – ‘Accidental Death’ is the official term, but Orianna wants no help from anybody, particularly a family that ignored and rejected her.  She’ll take her chances without them, and expose who really murdered her worthless father.

            This is Vaseem Khan’s first psychological thriller, as he tells us at the end of the book;  it’s the first set outside India, first first-person narrative – so many firsts, but what a success!  Plot twists and turns come thick and fast, and all the characters are completely convincing, in fact it’s hard to believe that he hasn’t a long list of thrillers to his name, such is his ease in the genre.  My only grizzle is that you’ll need strong wrists to read this;  it stretches to 574 pages – not easy for late-night ‘My God, what’s going to happen next!’ readers (me), but totally worth all the yawns the next day.  FIVE STARS.

 

Going to the Dogs, by Pierre Lemaitre.

Translated by Frank Wynne.

 

            What does one do when there are sure signs that one’s star staff member starts showing signs of losing her marbles?  And missing her targets.  And disposing of the wrong (Sacre Bleu!) targets?

            Such a fraught problem is presenting itself to the Commandant, head of a very shadowy organisation that specialises in removing obstacles (usually of the human kind) to certain people’s plans:  efficiency and accuracy in planning are always paramount, and if the Commandant does say it himself, there is always 100% satisfaction at the completion of each mission.  Until now.

            It is 1985 and Mathilde Perrin, now in her 60’s and a decorated wartime member of the French Resistance, has always been his most reliable assassin, fast, skilful and totally reliable – as is he, for he has the same decorations, shown the same bravery and resourcefulness, the difference being that Mathilde gets extra pleasure out of killing:  there is always an extra unnecessary shot or wound that demonstrates her sadism, and now she is starting to unravel.  And the Commandant is understandably worried that her deterioration will lead eventually to himself and his organisation:  she must be removed from his staff by someone cleverer than she. 

            And so begins Pierre Lemaitre’s sparkling, horrific Gallic satire on the subject of dementia, the disease that frightens us all as it waits in the wings and makes random stabs at its random victims:  even serial killers are not immune, no matter how efficient they are at their jobs.  As Mathilde’s condition deteriorates, she starts making dreadful errors, killing her cleaning lady who hasn’t even started the job yet, killing random people in a Mall carpark as she goes shopping for shoes, and slitting the throat of her faithful dog for no reason that anyone can see – except an observant police detective who interviews her just as a matter of course and finds the head of the dog under the hedge. 

            Lemaitre does a wonderful job building up suspense as to who will be the next victim, and the backstories he has for his great characters are fascinating;  as in real life it’s a lucky dip as to who will survive till the end of this superb little story and, as in real life, it’s always the last person one would suspect of finally bringing Mathilde to justice.  SIX STARS   

 

Three dogs, two murders and a cat, by Rodney Strong.

 

            Cosy Crime is now an established genre in TV series and books;  there’s always a satisfying ending that no-one saw coming and it can be guaranteed not to strain the brain too much about Life, the Universe and Everything.  Such a story is Three dogs etc. etc., but what is definitely and enormously entertaining about it is that it is set in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city:  for that reason alone, locals will love reading about all the novel’s improbable events with their city as the backdrop.

            And protagonist Nicolette Briggs is definitely a Private Detective with a difference:  she doesn’t do Humans. She investigates crimes against animals – sometimes with her fists if the need arises.  Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t make much money, but as we all know there are always plenty of cases of animal cruelty that need investigating, and she has a stellar reputation, eventually receiving a call from an aged member of the Silvermoon Retirement Village concerning a cat that is in a bad way:  according to the local vet it has been poisoned and, even though  no resident owns this feline friend, they don’t want anything to happen to her, and hope  that Nicolette can ferret out who officially owns her and if she was poisoned deliberately.

            Fair enough, Nicolette needs the money as her car requires urgent attention (a newer model would be great, but is an impossible dream, especially with a teenage daughter at a private school) so:  the first thing to find out is the identity of the true owner of the cat who, it transpires, lives (officially, anyway) in one of the properties adjoining the village, but true to form, everything gets very murky when the body of a young woman is found in the bath of the same property – then one of Nicolette’s rescue dogs is taken from her car, causing her to get very angry with the thief to the extent that she is witnessed assaulting him, which is not a  good look when he becomes the next murder victim:  the plot thickens!

            Rodney Strong states that this is the first of a series of books featuring Nicolette and her unorthodox and sometimes physical ways of fighting crime – which is just as well;  she comes from a very confusing group of relatives thanks to her mother’s several marriages and it’s hard to keep them all in their places – likewise his cavalier use of apostrophes:  they can be  tricky little things!  Having said that, it was great to travel around our lovely capital with Nicolette, unafraid to get physical when the defenceless can’t:  Cosy Crime can be fun!  FOUR STARS

 

 

     

 

Banquet of Beggars, by Chris Lloyd.

 

              This is the third book in Chris Lloyd’s series of the German Occupation of Paris during the Second World War.  Its Protagonist Inspector Eddie Giral is, like every other Parisian, surviving on very little with an ill-fitting and voluminous wardrobe to prove it – the only healthy-looking individuals in the City of Light are the German Occupiers;  the local Black Market doesn’t discriminate between Reichmarks and Francs:  whoever can pay the price-gouging sums will get the goods.  Naturally, the Germans are at an advantage here, having plenty of funds and not having to queue for hours for a loaf of bread, only to be turned away when meagre supplies have run out.

        The people of Paris are seething, so it comes as no surprise when Eddie is sent to investigate the murder of a local Black Marketeer, found trussed up in a miniature bath with a big lump of precious butter jammed in his mouth.  Death by suffocation, and good riddance. According to all the locals;  if ever someone deserved their fate it was THAT oily little scum.

            Fair enough, thinks Eddie, until his interviews and digging reveal more than just a passing involvement of the despised victim with various German factions of their armed forces – which brings him again into reluctant contact with Intelligence Officer Major Hochstetter, whose interest in Parisian crime is more involved and comprehensive than it needs to be:  once again Eddie has an investigation which has more skins than an onion, and all of it centred around the deprived and starving population of a beleaguered city hugely disappointed and crushed by their useless government.

            Hochstetter, too, has secrets to hide which Eddie unwittingly discovers, but what at first seems to be a bargaining chip turns once again into potential blackmail concerning Eddie’s estranged son Jean-Luc:  there are several compelling reasons for Jean-Luc’s silence, all of them having the ring of truth – but which one is the RIGHT one?

            Chris Lloyd brings to horrifying life a city under siege, a city full of desperate people calling for help which never arrives, and what they are forced to do to survive.  His minor characters are unforgettable, world-weary, cynical – and starving, and his day-to-day accounts of Paris under Occupation made this reader a whole lot more appreciative of the food which we put so regularly on our table.  FIVE STARS.  

           

           

 

 

Onyx Storm, by Rebecca Yarros.                                              

         

          Here is the third riveting book in Ms Yarros’s series of five fantasy novels about the mythical world of the Empyrean and the love affair between little, deceptively frail Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson, flawed but irresistible (not to mention impossibly handsome) man of shadows, who in book two has just been converted to the Dark Side in order to save her life, which means that they spend most of book three trying to find a cure for him so that he can defeat their toxic and supremely malevolent enemies, the Venin.  So far, because of his great love for Violet and his superhuman willpower he has been able to resist the terrible call of supreme and evil addiction, but Violet knows what a struggle it is for him but loves him the more because he has endangered himself for her. 

            The problem is that the rest of the Continent in which they live and study depends on them too, to prevent the entire population from being annihilated by the Venin, and to make matters worse, Violet herself is being pursued by an ex-highpriestess of Dunne (don’t ask. Oh, OK then:  God of War).  Theophanie is evil incarnate but is confident of winning Violet over to evil:  she just has to find the right trigger.  Xaden is the obvious prize along with them both being rulers of the Empyrean world forever – or could it be her second dragon, adolescent Andarna? 

            Once again, the dragons have won my  heart:  they are such great characters, especially Andarna, who has a mind of her own – talk about the impetuosity of youth!  I have to admit that I got a bit bogged down and confused at the warfare plans and the introduction of a whole swag of new characters as Violet and Xaden travel to far-off corners of the Empyrean to try to recruit allies and converts;  fortunately Ms Yarros knows what she’s doing and keeps the whole show on the road at its usual break-neck pace – and thank the Gods that someone is still in the driver’s seat for, once again, she saves the biggest shocks for the last page.  Which is hell on the nerves, especially as it’s going to take a while for book four to present itself: do your best, Ms Yarros, and I’ll still dream of a jolly nice little dragon choosing me for a pet!  FIVE STARS